Taliban says 21 Korean hostages are alive

The Associated Press

Published Thursday, August 02, 2007

GHAZNI, Afghanistan -- A Taliban deadline for the lives of the remaining 21 South Korean hostages passed Wednesday with a purported militant spokesman saying none had been harmed, while the Afghan army dropped leaflets in the area warning residents of an upcoming military mission.

The military said the mission was weeks away and wasn't connected to the hostages, denying media reports claiming a rescue attempt had been launched.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, told The Associated Press after the noon deadline passed that the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, though two female hostages were very sick and could die from illness.

On Tuesday, Afghan police found the body of a second hostage slain since the church-group volunteers were seized two weeks ago. Ahmadi had said eight militant prisoners, including some held by the United States at its Bagram base, had to be released by noon or more hostages would die.

On Wednesday, Ahmadi said Mullah Omar, the Taliban's elusive leader whose whereabouts are not known, had appointed three members of the Taliban's high council to oversee the hostage situation and they would have the power to order them slain at any time.

The Taliban has extended several previous deadlines by hours or days. However, the militia has killed two South Korean male captives several hours after two previous deadlines.

South Korea said it would send a parliamentary delegation to the United States to seek cooperation in resolving the crisis, and relatives of the hostages pleaded for help at Washington's embassy in the South Korean capital.

The 23 South Koreans were kidnapped while riding a bus on July 19 on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. They are the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power.